Melanie Fried, Executive Editor

Melanie Fried joined Putnam in 2025 and acquires high-concept fiction for a crossover audience—upmarket and commercial suspense/mysteries with book club appeal; dramas with either a heartfelt or edgier tone; hooky historicals and dual-narratives with a mystery element or magical twist; love story-mystery or romance-suspense combinations; and nostalgic love stories with scope. Across categories, she’s always a fan of glossy settings, emotionally thrilling plots, friend groups, reunions, characters with gray area, and family magic/folklore.

Prior to Putnam, she worked at St. Martin’s Press and HarperCollins, where she acquired books like Today Show Read with Jenna pick Black Candle Women by Diane Marie Brown, Indie Next pick The Housekeepers by Alex Hay, Target Book Club pick Miss del Rio by Barbara Mujica, and Agatha Award winner The Mother Next Door by Tara Laskowski. Other novels she has published include bestsellers The Chanel Sisters by Judithe Little, The Bookseller’s Secret by Michelle Gable, The Summer List by Amy Mason Doan, and Friends to Lovers by Sally Blakely.